IZARA
INITIATION FESTIVAL THEATRE OF AMO PEOPLE IN NIGERIA
BY
SOLOMON OBIDAH YAMMA.
AN EXCERPT
FROM A WORK DONE IN 2003.
THE DEFINITION
AND CONCEPT OF IZARA
Izara is a festival that
accomplishes the rites of circumcision all through Amo land.
During the festival which lasts exactly one month, all the
ancestral deities are worshipped in thanksgiving and
prayers. The festival itself is usually declared open by the
paramount Chief of Amo, circumcising the “Kuzur” in the
presence of the members of the traditional council and a
select old woman.
The whole idea of Izara is based
on the universality of the rite of circumcision as on
occasion for spilling human blood in battle, no more, no
less. Hence during the festival, the ancestral gods are
appeased by the requirement of the slaughter a big he-goat
so that any child can be circumcised.
The tradition of circumcision in
Amo land is pre-historic, as no one, dead or alive could
ever pinpoint the exact origin of the tradition. It is
believed that the gods themselves ordained the rite or
circumcision as a mark of peculiarity of the people of Amo,
a mark of distinction separating the Amo people from all
others around them. Incidentally, many of the neighbouring
polities are close relations of the Amo people, and so they
also have similar traditions. The similarities of the people
have been authenticated by Nengel:
In most of the societies, the
transition form one age-grade to another was an important
occasion celebrated with rituals, dancing with great
festival. For example, with single exception of the Kono,
the tradition all societies relate that the transition from
either the Yara to Matasa, or from the latter
to Samari was the most important event marked by the
circumcision rite generally known as Kumusu.
The timing for such a historic
event is almost the same for some ethnic groups. He
continued:
Place after four years. Yet
for many of them like the Amo, Bujel, Buji, Binawa, Chokobo,
Dingi, Janji, Duguza, Kaibi, Kahugu, Kiballo, Kurama, Piti,
Rukuba and Tariya, their Kumusu was regularly performed at
an interval of seven years while the Jere did theirs after
eight years.
However, in the traditions of Amo
people, the concept of Izara is very unique and radically
different from the circumcision rites of the neighbouring
polities. For wheas, circumcision in other polities is
simply an initiation rite, for the Amo people, it is
accompanied by the Izara festival, which in essence was a
period during which human beings intermingle with ancestral
gods. Hence, during the month, all other cultural practices
come to stop and the spirit of Izara pervaded the whole land
and controlled all the activities of all Amo people wherever
they happened to be. This is because it is when the Rites of
Passage are performed for the cleansing and retooling of the
society. It also celebrated the victory of the human spirit
over forces inimical to self-extinction. It concretizes in
form of action, the arduous birth of an individual or
communal entity, created a new being through utilizing and
stressing the language of self glorification to which human
nature is healthily prone. During this period of the
festival, rapport between the Amo people and the unseen
deities is substantial and the whole land became the resting
home of the latter. This is always done for the well being
of the human community of Amo people.
The well being of the society is
to come only through the circumcision, which is always
accompanied by the festival and the Kagi feast. This
spiritual and physical well-being can only come when rites,
proceedings, and the rules of these practices are followed
correctly. The breach of the rituals of these ceremonial
values attracts serious communal havoc to the community.
This is because this human activity is believed to be
controlled by the deities, and so this practice is also
repressive in nature. Schechner and Appel have
concretized this fact when they said that:
Redressive rituals include
divination into the hidden causes of misfortune, personal
and social conflict and illness (all of which in tribal
societies are intimately interconnected and thought to be
caused by the invisible action of spirit, deities, witches,
and sorcerers); they include curative rituals (which may
often involve episodes of spirit possession; initiatory
rites connected with these rituals of affliction.
It should be realized that these
mishappenings in the community is to be caused by those.
Apart from the retribution that a
defaulter faces when the taboos guiding this cultural
practice are broken, the society in general faces a kind of
serious misfortune. It is strongly believed that after the
period of Izara, the song of Izara should not be sung by any
person. If this happens and the Ugo (The Chief of Amo)
dreams about it, there will be deaths in the land. This is
because this sacred song is sung at the wrong time. The gods
will be angry and the people must pay through the death of
some citizens.
The same also happens when
mistakes are made by the professionals in handling the
rituals of the ceremony. There are always serious
misfortunes, like barrenness and death experienced by the
initiates and the people in general. This is because it is a
communal activity that is shared by everyone in the
community. An anthropologist, Igor Kopytoff, when writing
about circumcision among the Suku people of Congo has this
to say:
The organizers secure the
service of a professional circumciser, who must also be
knowledgeable in the details of the ceremonial because
mistakes are considered to expose the children to
witchcraft.
It is usually a ceremony that
must be handled carefully, meticulously and professionally
in order to avert the problems encountered when mistakes are
made.
It should be realized that Izara
festival takes place after seven years; it does not really
mean an initiate after being circumcised and initiated
becomes an adult physically. But the moment a boy goes
through these rituals, he sees himself as quite a different
person and also people within the community of Amo view him
as somebody who will soon take important roles in the
society. Igor Kopytoff supports this assertion, when he
posited that:
Though a boy’s journey into
manhood is gradual and without definite landmarks as far as
the learning of task is concerned, there is one point in it
that represents a definite psychological and social break
from the past. This is circumcision ceremony.
So, this communal event should be
seen as more of an admission into the training ground of
being an adult. This is because a boy that is born within
the range of seven years (1-7) cannot be said to have
attained adulthood or manhood simply because he has gone
through circumcision and initiation. But as soon as the boy
is circumcised, he begins to take roles or tasks that are
really for men. This happens, especially when the initiates
go through the culmination of the processes of initiation
during Kagi.
CIRCUMCISION RITE
Male children in Amo land are
circumcised hence all of them fall under the same age group.
Participation is entirely unrelated to lineage, clan or
political ties. The ceremony is handled by professional
circumciser who always takes instructions from Ugo (chief
priest) and the members of the traditional council
(especially Ugo Nizara), who are “knowledgeable in the
details of the ceremonial”. This is to avert mistakes that
could wreck the community.
The parents of each candidate are
expected to slaughter a goat. The fore limb, Ugap and the
blood, nmii, after being boiled of the goat, are taken to
his (candidate’s) maternal uncles which indicates that their
daughter has a male child that has been circumcised. In the
case of parents with many candidates, many goats are
slaughtered. During the circumcision, any Ugbari (singular)
that due to fear urinates, his father is fined a fowl. No
woman under whatever circumstance is allowed to be seen at
the circumcision ground. Just as that of the Suku people of
Congo. In the words of Igor Kopitoff:
Circumcision takes place at
early dawn, and the children immediately move to a special
hut that has been previously erected outside the
village…….During their residence they learn various dances
and songs (most of which are derisive of women) and they are
exposed to systematic hazing by their elders…….the entire
ceremony is believed to ensure the boy’s virility.
Throughout the period of seclusion, women are strictly
forbidden to approach them. Those that do so by mistake are
fined by the boys.
Circumcision or Uboon-nono in Amo
is usually performed between March and April.
The skins of the goats
slaughtered during the circumcision rites are tanned and
kept for use during the Izara (Kumusu) festival. The
circumcision marks yet another turning point in the history
of male children in Amo land. It is the beginning of the
process of initiation, which would be rounded up during Kagi
feast that takes place in the sixth year after Izara
festival. The Circumcision is the first important step
toward adulthood – that is the “social and psychological
break from the past” that Kopytoff talked about.
THE IZARA FESTIVAL THEATRE
Preparation for the
Performance
Immediately the segment of
circumcision is over, which comes with the slaughter of
he-goats for the children’s maternal uncles, the next stage
is for the Chief priest to decide on the days for the public
performances of Izara (dance and music). Meanwhile, the
active male participants who have slaughtered goats will be
tanning the latter’s skins to be used as costumes and or
even regalia throughout the period of the festival. The
tanned skin shorts are called Kukii and Tigalgaba. Kukii is
usually worn to cover the private parts of the participants
while Tigalgaba is usually placed on the former at the
front.
These leather skin shorts, gotten
during the circumcision, are beautifully decorated with
blue, white and yellow buttons and African cowries, Ikulma.
The women on the other hand wear some bunches of fresh
leaves and a string –like thing called ije or tigana beside
the leaves.
They also wear a headband known
as litapa. The men have each, a long staff (which is also
used as a body prop) called Likpuu or in Hausa, gora, gotten
from a bamboo tree. This staff is usually beautifully
decorated, from the top to middle of it with either the
beard of a horse, known as npasi, he-goat or the tail of a
cow to appear as stripes on it. In addition, to all these,
is the ochre powder, nton (Koya in Hausa) which is rubbed on
the staff to add artificial colour to it. The women on the
other hand, use abbo (the plural for libbo or gora in Hausa
or jug in English) with some seven stones in them. They
shake the abbo as the song of Izara goes on. Elderly women
carry along with them nnuff nikpok (mai madaci oil) or
ointment obtained from the seeds of mahogany tree. The oil
is poured as make-up, on the back of the men as the dance
progresses.
At this stage it is expected that
ntoro (local beer) will be brewed by the families of the
initiates. This is because during and after the dance, this
beer is usually drunk.
It is important to realize that
at this stage, rehearsals are expected to be going on. But
this will happen only under a serious condition. This
condition being that the real musical equipments and some of
the props (like staff, oil, jug etc) will not be used during
these rehearsals. Even the costumes are not allowed to be
used. Any body that acts contrary to this condition will be
fined-he or she will brew local beer and will provide cocks.
So, instead of using the real staff (tikpuu), they use the
corn stalks and they also use the drums used by children.
FUNCTIONS OF IZARA
Religious Functions of Izara
Izara is always a period of rites
during which people rededicate or renew their allegiance to
the gods. It is more of a cleansing performance whereby the
long accumulated disharmonies are taken off.
Political and Adjudicative
Functions of Izara
Politically, the Amo administrative machinery is hierarchical in structure. At the top is the Omnipotent God- Kutelle. On earth, the activities of man are over seen through the Ugo Namap and Ago Kipin. This is graphically represented below:
Just as the Eggon, the Amo also
believe in the existence of only one supreme God who
controls the affairs of man. The person occupying the next
position of power in the hierarchy is the Ugo Namap (Chief
of Amo) – who is the custodian of traditions and values and
he is a spiritual and father of the Amo people. The Ugo
Namap performs executive, legislative and judicial duties.
He deals with offences of different kinds. He performs the
role of ensuring the obedience of customary laws that guide
the behaviours of the people. He passes judgment
on the offenders. He is a powerful ruler in the land next to
Kutelle. Though there is a yari- who is a selected middle
aged man whose duty is to investigate the causes of some
mishappenings in the community. But the chief of Amo is at
the helm of these governmental duties. He treats offences;
ranging from witchcraft, rape, disobedience, divorce etc.
During Izara, his duty is seen clearly as he is the person
to declare festival open.
Izara gives political identity to
the Amo people. This is because it is a period of
re-affirmation of political identity of Amo as a people. It
is a period in which the centrality of political authority
is emphasized through out Amo land. Hence, the chief with
his traditional council is the only one who has the right to
declare the festival open. This demonstrates the centrality
of powers in the Amo society.
The chief also has the sole right
of punishing those who break or flout the taboos guiding the
festival. The offender usually pays the fine of ntoro (local
beer) and seven fowls.
It is used as an instrument for
re-affirmation of political ties between Amo and the
neighboring polities (like the Rukuba and Jere people).
There is a type of Izara that Rukuba people are usually
invited to come and watch. This helps in concretizing the
friendly relationship between the two ethnic groups.
It is the period that a powerful
ruler can make new laws for the land. At this time, the
Chief of Amo exercises his control through his roles in
Izara, so when he says anything, it can generally be
accepted. At this period, every Amo man and woman is waiting
to hear from the Chief.
It is pertinent for the duties of
the members of the traditional council to be highlighted.
Ugo Nizara is the custodian of
the traditions of Izara. He works hand-in-hand with the
Chief of Amo during Izara festival. There are two Ugos
Nizara: one in Kides and the other in Kitara regions of Amo
land.
Ugo Kipin is the head of the
Nchill cult. He orders the punishment of a wizard that is
involved in witchcraft.
Ugo Ndina is in charge of over
seeing and clearing the way or the road for the Chief and
his retinue. Sometimes malevolent spirits mislead the people
to a way of damnation. At times, the road may even be
missing. He functions during Izara and wars. He also leads
the way when the chief is attending a serious function
somewhere. Though there are the Amunchi (plura) who are
endowed with superhuman powers. These people can arrive at
the ground of the function even before the Chief.
Ugo Nibino is in charge of
another festival of millet. He declares the consumption of
the millet after being dedicated to the gods. This festival
is known as Unim Para.
Ugo Sokoto controls a specific
village but receives direction from the Chief of Amo.
Ugo Naparan is in charge of the
Amo peak (the sacred hills). He protects them against their
adulteration by spirits. He is very significant during Kagi
feast.
Ugo Kupara is the assistant of
Ugo Naparan, who takes care of one of the sacred hills.
THE IZARA PERFORMANCE
There are six types of Izara
performances that take place in six stages during the one
month period of the festival. There are Izara Kubi,
Izara Kuji,Izara Kubanaja, Ukalu
Tigalgaba, Izara Nishum and Useru Tikpuu (the
grand finale).
Izara Kubi is
the first performance which lasts for two weeks. It takes
place at an arena adjacent to the house of each member of
the traditional council. Each of the two regions of Amo
(Kides and Kitara) has seven members namely, Ugo Nizara,
Ugo Kipin, Ugo Ndina, Ugo Sokoto,
Ugo Naparan, Ugo Kupara. Each of the members will
inform the chief priest (Ugo Namap) on the day the
performers will come and display at his arena. Then the
information will be passed to the performers. Each member,
on his day, is expected to brew a large quantity of ntoro
(local beer) to be served to the performers and audience.
Izara Kuji
takes place for only a day. The parents of the newly
circumcised initiates will brew the local beer known as
ntoro naji, which is supposed to be served to old people
on the arena of the event. The local beer will be shared to
the old people in the two regions of Amo (Kides and Kitara)
as a sign of thanksgiving to Kutelle for giving the male
children who have survived circumcision.
It is important to note that this
is the preliminary stage of the festival, and so the
participants are expected to master the dance steps and the
usage of the staff. Though some of the participants just
need to recall how it is used because they have been
participating in it.
Izara Kubanajana
or Likpuu is historical in nature. It takes
place for only a day and is done by the participants from
Kitara and Kides. Historically, according to Ugo Isaac Bawa
Sambo, “It is believed that the family entrusted with
chieftancy (dynasty) of Amo people has its origin in the
Rukuba ethnic group”. Besides, the relationship was further
substantiated when the warrior, Katura, who for altruistic
reason, gave out himself to the Hausas in order to save a
Rukuba friend and ruler with his people. It was as a result
of this that the two tribes (Amo and Rukuba) resolved to be
friends.
This extension of a hand of
friendship through Izara started with Ugo Doya in
about 300 years ago at Kamari. This tradition continued with
Doya’ sons: Ugo Sambo Doya and Miango when they came down
from the top of hills to a place known as Ikawra.
Izara Kubanaja
which is usually performed for the Rukuba people is
always preceded by an announcement by the Ugo Nizara
that the participants and some elders would go to the peak
of Amo at Kamari to perform for the Chief of Rukuba and his
people. The arena is usually at the foot of the peak
(mountain). Sometimes it is done at Karanbana town. This
performance also brings to notice that another set of
children have been circumcised successfully. Not just that,
it is appreciation to Kutelle (God).
Moreover, since a league was
entered into between Rukuba and Amo, it has therefore become
a custom that anything important within the Amo community
must also involve the Rukubas.
The third stage and performance
is also known as Ukalu Tigalgaba, which takes place
for a day also. Ukalu Tigalgaba refers to the removal
of Tigalgaba, part of costumes that are placed on the
Kukii around the loin. It is not the actual removal
of these leather skins, but that in the next stage which is
Izara Nishum, the participants will not use them.
Izara Nishum
(Izara of beans) is the fifth performance and stage
of Izara festival. It lasts for a day at Kides – the
place of its origin. According to Isaac Bawa, that the
origin of Izara Nishum is kides because of an
incident that took place at Kawam town. Usually, the
participants from Kitara are expected to visit Kides to
perform together. It was so because special musical
instruments are expected to be used by select persons. These
instruments are Kizing - zing drums and the
kulantung trumpet from the house of the Chief Priest.
On a certain day of Izara
Nishum, the participants from Kitara, while dancing,
marched some beans plants close to the arena of the
ceremony. So the people from Kides named that particular
performance Izara Nishum. So it has become a
tradition that prior to the day of Izara Nishum, the
head clans and the performers will be asked to package some
cooked beans meal to be served to the performers from Kitara
while dancing. This is how it is usually done when it gets
to the stage of Izara Nishum.
This is also the stage that draws
mass audience because the Chief Priest (Ugo Namap) is
expected to lead his retinue of traditional council members,
participants and large number of people from Kitara to
participate in the Izara Nishum. Meanwhile, the
Ugo Ndina is to be at the front clearing the way for
the Chief’s retinue. They are to travel down to Kides in a
precession. On getting close to the arena of the performance
at Kawam, they will stop at that point. Then the members of
the traditional council from Kides will come and receive the
Kitara’s participants to join the former. At this point, the
tempo and the zeal in the performers are heightened because
this session of it is seen as a competition between the
participants from the two regions.
As soon as the Kitara
participants join the Kides’, the former will be given the
chance to display their dancing prowess. They are to go
round for seven times. After the seventh round, the chief
priest will announce the date for the grand finale (Useru
Tikpuu). It is when they would be going round for seven
times that beans meal would be served to them. Beans is
regarded as a special meal beside the major meal – tiza
(tuwo in Hausa).
Besides the bean meal consumed,
ntoro (local beer) is also drank in celebration of
this festival. This stage was regarded as the semi-final of
the festival.
USERU TIKPUU
It is imperative to start by
recognizing the beliefs guiding the performance. Just as
during the circumcision rite, if the stone of any Ugbari
change position the boy will die, the same happens
during Izara performance. If in the course of the
dance, the staff (likpuu) of a performer breaks at the
middle; his son will not survive to see the Kagi feast that
will come up in the sixth year to complete the initiation
rites. Such a performer usually burst into a loud cry
because he knows fully well the repercussion of it.
The direct translation of
Useru Tikpuu, is the collection of staff. It is during
this stage of the festival that the Chief Priest (Ugo Namap)
collects the tikpuu from the active actors or
performers after they may have gone round in a well
choreographed dance movement seven times.
This is the sixth performance and
stage, which takes place on an arena at Kamari, the town of
the Ugo Namap. This stage is endowed with a lot of
traditional activities apart from the dance; there are
usually horse racing and a display of hunting and warfare
prowess by the performers using den guns.
As it has already been said, the
Izara dance structure has a cyclical formation. With
particular reference to the arena for Izara Nishum at
Kawam and Useru Tikpuu at Kamari, the center of the
cycle is occupied by a rocky platform that Ugo Namp uses for
his speech.
This is followed by the drummers
and the instrumentalists, who are men and few women who hold
the abbo (jugs) to shake them rhythmically. The old
men and women are the ones dancing next to the drummers and
instrumentalists. They are weak, so a space is usually
provided for them before the men because of the nature of
the dance. The performers are surrounded by the numerous
spectators who also participate by occasional responses to
the songs. At times, some spectators intermittently join the
active dancers to dance. It is really a fluid kind of
performance.
Just as it usually happens
at Kawam during Izara Nishum, the same becomes of the
Useru Tikpuu. The performers from Kides will storm
on the arena of the event at Kamari town in their large
number in the same manner as the performers from Kitara
would do during Izara Nishum. As soon as this
happens, the combined performers of Kides and Kitara will
dance round for seven times, while singing the song of
Izara. The theatricality of this performance lies on
the dance steps and the song. Someone sees the aesthetics in
the tapping and stamping movements of the legs and also the
diagonal and sideways movements of the body. The chorus is
the same for the song. Two kinds of moods are expressed in
such a song/music – the happy one and the sad one.
There are justifiable reasons for
the performers being happy or sad on this day; one of the
reasons for being happy is because of the male child that
Kutelle (God) has given a performer. Not only that, but also
the child is alive and he is partaking in such a long
awaited traditional rites of circumcision and initiation.
The performer also thanks the in – laws for giving him their
daughter to be his wife; also for the reason that she has
given birth to a male child who is going through the
reputable rites in the land. On the other hand, those who
are sad lament in the song by saying the reason for being
sad. The major reason is their lack of male children or the
loss of them. For instance, during the circumcision rite,
parents loss their children. So these parents engage
themselves in ugozu na wui (lamentation). In this
case, the performers lament generally about the sad
happenings in their homes. They do this in a form of
dialogue with their wives or other children who are in the
audience. For instance, if a performer’s child once stole
something at home, the wife will calm him or tell him the
reasons for that. There is usually a serious contagious
effect of what the performers say in their songs in the
members of the audience that makes the later cry laugh. The
song takes the tone of a dirge if the performers begin to
mourn the death of their loved ones. This is usually the
climax of their sadness that they would wish they had the
Uki nlura (the key to the dead) – Lura is
Hades. As soon as some spectators hear this, they
immediately burst into a loud cry. This is because it
reminds them of their lost ones too. This goes in line with
what Oladele Taiwo opines that:
The people’s beliefs and
attitudes to life are embedded in their songs and so they
have appropriate songs for any situation. These songs are
regarded as a major activity during which people show their
joy or sorrow or in the case of religious festivals, their
reverence and devotion.
On the reaching the seventh round
of the combined dance, the chief priest, members of the
traditional council (both from Kides and Kitara) and some
selected old men will pave their way to the center of the
performers. The chief priest will walk to a dancer and touch
him or collect his staff. Already, the attention of the
dancers is on him (Ugo), so they will stop dancing
immediately. Every one of them will drop his staff somewhere
or give it to a familiar spectator to keep for him. It
should be realized that it is not an actual collection of
the staff from the performer, because these props will
remain with them after the festival to be used by their old
men and women as walking sticks.
The chief priest will now climb
the top of the rocky platform in the center of the cycle and
announce to the people (performers and spectators) the next
stage or aspect which is known as Libari. This
aspect of Izara is highly dramatic in the sense that it is a
show of bravery, powers and teamwork, which is done in a
playful form and mood. This aspect draws mass participation
as every Amo person gets involved in it except the Ugo
Namap, traditional council members, the old men, non-Amo
spectators and other dignitaries present.
The whole participants will
divide themselves into two groups- the Kides camp and the
Kitara camp. Meanwhile, there is a royal plant that must
appear at the side of the Kitara camp because their side is
of the royalty and of the dynasty. This plant is known as
Fiqui. At this point, it is the communal obligation of
the Kides participants or camp to cut down the plant and it
is also the communal duty of the Kitara group to protect and
defend it, their pride. Most of the participants will be
holding different kinds of local weapons harmlessly, ranging
from bows and arrows, spears, swords, sticks and other
participants will take recourse to leaves. In what can be
described as a war-like encounter, the “warriors” from Kides
will make six attempts, in a fiery mood to cut down the
Fiqui, but will be prevented by the Kitara “warriors”.
On the seventh attempt, the situation will become that of
peaceful and harmless pandemonium. Here, participants run
helter-skelter, but the Fiqui is well guarded by
able-bodied men who are also spiritually powerful. Horsemen
also take part in this contest.
There is something daring about
this Libari. It is not that some participants cannot
cut it, but the implication or repercussion for doing so is
death. It takes super-human powers for someone to
successfully do this. Even if this happens, it does not mean
that chieftaincy title (stool) will be transferred to Kides
– no; it will remain in Kitara region of Amo land.
After a while, the place will
become calm and quiet. So the Ugo Namap will climb the rocky
platform to thank Kutelle and the Anta-Kune
for coming to share with their creatures and descendants,
and also for protecting the people for adhering to the
rules and taboos of the traditional practices of Izara.
This closing address of the Ugo
Namap will put an end to the festival – no more songs of
Izara, no more dances, and no more circumcision, until
another period of it approaches. Any body caught doing any
of the above must face the wrath of the traditional rules
and also the sanction from the people. But it is
questionable these days as people continue to circumcise
their boys without waiting for that time.
But this does not mean that the
process of initiation has been completed until after five
years when the Kagi feast will be held. The feast is
usually the last lap of the initiation rites that must be
observed.
KAGI FEAST
This is the last lap for the
completion of the initiation rites, which takes place around
March or April. As soon as the period approaches, the
survivors of the circumcision of the last fives will
participate in the Kagi Feast. The fathers or elder brothers
of the initiates will take their children for the Kagi. They
are to move in a procession according to their clans.
The first place to settle is
known as Kuparan Tini. They will sit according to their
clans and eat. The next place is Kupara Tipara; here, it is
the same thing that will happen. Then the next and final
destination for the period of seclusion and ritual is Kupara
Majaka. Even the movement to this arena is itself a ritual.
For instance, the first initiate walking at the front of
Anan Liki clan wears a cap that is known as Udara to help
him lead his brothers in the clan.
It is the clan that the chief priest comes from. At Kupara
Majaka, they will be stripped naked and their hair cut. At
this moment, some leaves will be used to cover their
genitals. These leaves are known as agbaw (leaves from one
of the zerophytic trees). The initiates will be assembled
according to their clans around a rocky platform,
reminiscent of the Useru Tikpuu arena. There is already
prepared concoction mixed with water in a special calabash
that the chief priest brings with him. He will use some
leaves of locust bean tree to dip into the concoction and
sprinkle on the heads of the initiates.
A Graphical Representation
of the Assembly of Clans before the Chief Priest at Kagi
He will make sure the substance
touches the head of every initiate present there. Then a
trumpet will be blown with the tone of Izara.
Immediately this happens every
initiate will be shouldered by his father or elder brother
for what is known as Libari. But this Libari is different
from that of Izara festival performance. Here, the
parents/brothers will run with them at once from one point
to another for seven times. From there, the initiates will
not be allowed to touch the ground. They will be taken home
on the shoulders. Already, there are new clothes sewn for
them. Meanwhile, during their stay in the jungle, no woman
is allowed to see them. Any woman that does so will be
fined.
If they wear these clothes, they
will be taken to the palace of the chief priest for the
final rite. They will assemble themselves according to their
clans in front of the palace. Already, there is a big basin
filled with ntoro naji (local brew for an age group).
There is a little conversation
that precedes the service the Ugo does to the initiates at
ntoro naji session. This conversation is among three
personalities- Ugo, Ugo Naparan and Ugo Kupara. It is going
to be demonstrated below:
Ugo Namap (Chief
Priest on a platform before the initiates and the spectators):
Kayika. Kayika!!! (At this time everybody is quiet. He
continues) Ugo Naparan duka? (“Is Ugo Naparan around?”
This is because Ugo Naparan is in charge of the arena of
Kagi and he is to take care of the initiates).
Ugo Naparan (Answers):
Nnduku, nkwana Baba.
Ugo Namap
(Continues): Ugo Naparan, none nsa vat ta? (“Have all the
initiates returned?”)
Ugo Naparan (Answers):
Isa vat. (“All of them have returned”. If one of them is
missing or dead, he will tell Ugo Namap)
Ugo Kupara (who
has been in the crowd secretly will intrude in the
conversation): Kashi, Kashi, in pino munu. Inta nnuff
likwok ku (“I have caught you. I have put the oil from
mahogany tree”).
This is usually the conversation
among these persons.
Then the chief priest will chant certain incantation which
is a prelude for him to make them sip of the ntoro. If they
all have the sip, he will declare them as men and also as
age group (Kuji), which has been graduated.
At this
moment, most of the initiates will have become friends-
Adong-dong. It is really a day of jubilation for the
initiates and their parents and the reverse for parents that
lost their own. Friendship ties established during the Kagi
feast lasts till death. Most of them usually invite their
houses for further celebration. This is the last stage of
the initiation rite and for the formation of an age group in
Amo land.
GLOSSARY
Ago Kipin-
Traditional council member
Abaw- Leaves
Amunci-
Persons with superhuman powers
Anta-kune-Ancestors
Adong-dong-
Friends
Fiqui- Royal
and sacred plant
Kakonto- A
hut used during Kagi
Kukii- The
tanned skin costume
Kulangtung- A
trumpet
Kumusu-
Another name for Izara
Kutelle-
Almighty God
Kuzur- The
initiate from the Chief’s house
Libbo- A jug
Likpuu-Bamboo
stick
Nmii-Blood
Npasi-Horse
beard
Nton-Ochre
powder
Ntoro-Locally
brewed beer
Uboon-nono-
Circumcision
Ugbari-An
initiate
Ugap-Fore
limb
Ugozi na wui-
Lamentation
Uteru Kadun-
Tying of mortar
END NOTES
John Garah Nengel
“Intergroup Relation in the Pre-colonial
Polities of Kauru and Pengana Highlands, Central Nigeria”,
unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Jos, University of Jos, September,
1989.
Richard Schechner,
By Means of Performance. London: Wenner, Cambridge, Green
Foundation for Anthroplogical Research, 1990.
Igor Kopitoff,
The Suku of South-Western Congo. Boston: Boston University
Press, U.S.A. 1958.
Oladele Taiwo.
An Introduction toWest Africa Literature, Australia, Thomas
Nelson, 1967.
Oyin Ogunba.
Theatre in Africa. Ibadan: IbadanUniversity Press, 1970.
Ugo Isa’ac B. Sambo.
Oral Interview at Jengre on the 29th December,
2003.
Ugo Paul Magaji.
Oral Interview at Katako on the 22nd December,
2003.